title: Suicide attempts by deliberate self-poisoning in children and adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study was to examine the toxicological characteristics of suicide attempts by deliberate self-poisoning in children and adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  From the Toxicological Information Centre's database, the inquiries due to the suicide attempts in children (9-13 years old) and adolescents (14-18 years old) were evaluated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  From 10,492 calls concerning suicide attempts, 2393 concerned children and adolescents. Most suicide attempts were attempted in spring (31.3%). Among the toxic agents, drugs were used in 97.8% cases. The most frequent ingestions appeared using drugs affecting the nervous system and anti-inflammatory non-steroids. The dose was evaluated as toxic in 73.4%, severely toxic in 3.0% and unknown in 11.2% cases. Only one in 10 children used a non-toxic dose. Girls, more frequently than boys (13.2% vs. 8.9%), used non-toxic doses. The symptoms of moderate and severe intoxications were present in 10.5% of the cases. Poison centre consultation was accessed within the first hour after the ingestion in one-fifth of the patients. In both age groups, the severity of the intoxication was greater among elder males who reached the medical facilities later than 4 h after the poisoning. The combinations of three or more drugs affecting central nervous system were present in the most severe cases.
authors.affiliation: Toxicological Information Centre, Department of Occupational Medicine, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic. Electronic address: Sergey.Zakharov@vfn.cz.
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zakharov
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Navratil
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pelclova
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011041:Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Czech Toxicological Information Centre; Deliberate suicidal self-poisoning; Suicide attempts in children and adolescents